What You May Have Missed: Ernest J. Lee & Spirit of David

As you all know by now, I listen to a lot of gospel music from the 80's to 90's, much of it is traditional and contemporary gospel. Although I don't emphasize it here, I do listen to other styles of Christian music, one genre I'm slowly listening to is urban gospel. Surprisingly there are many other artist out there that I'm slowly becoming exposed to. One artist that's been under my radar until recently is Ernest J. Lee & The Spirit of David (now known as The Renaissance). I got turned on to them when my good friend, Armando (who's like a brother to me...hey 'Mondo!!) , introduced me to them. He told me of a few songs the founder of the group, Ernest J. Lee, wrote for Fred Hammond, so I decided they were worth giving a listen to.

I purchased their first album, Encourage Yourself, released in 2001 on Juana Records, to see what all the hype was about finally. With all songs written by Ernest J. Lee, the album has a good mix of contemporary and urban gospel. Most albums have titles that doesn't have much to do with the song offerings within them, Encourage Yourself isn't like that. Nearly all of their songs offer inspiration to keep enduring through whatever it may be that has you down and out. The album opens up with Restoration (Interlude), with Lee providing a word of encouragement while the choir sings in the background, "restoration...He's restoring me...". Up next is Above My Head (Sunday Morning Remix), don't let the name fool you, it's far from your traditional Sunday morning song. It has a futuristic, hip-hop beat to it (for my R&B heads , think of late 90's, early 2000's productions from Timbaland and Missy). Another urban gospel track that's worth giving a listen is David's Dance. It has an older familiar hip-hop song it samples from which is more evident when you listen to the vamp, other than that, it's definitely a song that will have you dancing for Jesus.

Onward to a few of the contemporary gospel songs ministered, the two fast-paced songs I couldn't help but to keep on repeat are Hold On and Jus' Keep On Praizin' God. Hold On is laced with the sounds of the organ, which is pretty much dominant in this track. The lyrics speak of holding on to God's unchanging hand and being strong in the Lord. Jus' Keep On Praizin' God, which is my favorite song from this release. The lyrics have encouraged me personally recently, "no matter what you're going through, even when the mountains you can't move; jus' keep on praising on God, He's gonna work it out for you". Jesus Knows is a ballad that lets the listener know that Jesus knows what you're going through, just turn your problems over to Him and let Him work them out. For information about this and other upcoming releases from this group, check out their website or MySpace page





Track Listing:

1. Restoration (Interlude)
2. Above My Head (Sunday Morning Remix)
3. Gotta Get It
4. Hold On
5. He's Waitin On U
6. Jesus Knows
7. Jus' Keep On Praizin' God
8. David's Dance
9. God Dwells
10. Dominion
11. Joy Comes In The Morning
12. Victory In Jesus' Name
13. Glory To God


You can purchase Encourage Yourself from:

* N Time Music
* Half.com
* Tower Records


Other releases from Ernest J. Lee & Spirit of David:

* New Psalms (2003)
* Renaissance (2006)



What's To Come This Week:

Old School Friday tomorrow featuring Rev. Milton Brunson & The Thompson Community Singers